scsi: core: Fix scsi_mode_sense() buffer length handling
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 4 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat. Impact type from CWE-770.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: scsi: core: Fix scsi_mode_sense() buffer length handling Several problems exist with scsi_mode_sense() buffer length handling: 1) The allocation length field of the MODE SENSE(10) command is 16-bits, occupying bytes 7 and 8 of the CDB. With this command, access to mode pages larger than 255 bytes is thus possible. However, the CDB allocation length field is set by assigning len to byte 8 only, thus truncating buffer length larger than 255. 2) If scsi_mode_sense() is called with len smaller than 8 with sdev->use_10_for_ms set, or smaller than 4 otherwise, the buffer length is increased to 8 and 4 respectively, and the buffer is zero filled with these increased values, thus corrupting the memory following the buffer. Fix these 2 problems by using put_unaligned_be16() to set the allocation length field of MODE SENSE(10) CDB and by returning an error when len is too small. Furthermore, if len is larger than 255B, always try MODE SENSE(10) first, even if the device driver did not set sdev->use_10_for_ms. In case of invalid opcode error for MODE SENSE(10), access to mode pages larger than 255 bytes are not retried using MODE SENSE(6). To avoid buffer length overflows for the MODE_SENSE(10) case, check that len is smaller than 65535 bytes. While at it, also fix the folowing: * Use get_unaligned_be16() to retrieve the mode data length and block descriptor length fields of the mode sense reply header instead of using an open coded calculation. * Fix the kdoc dbd argument explanation: the DBD bit stands for Disable Block Descriptor, which is the opposite of what the dbd argument description was.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.5, 5.16
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix yet |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-47182
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-qq35-93pf-cxxv
References
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
- TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
Sources
- CVE-2021-47182 · CVE Program
- CVE-2021-47182 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-qq35-93pf-cxxv · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2021-47182 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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